Dr. Rupinder Singh received a PhD degree in Mechanical Engineeringin 2006 from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala (India), the M Tech degree in Production Engineering in 2001, and the B Tech Production Engineering degree in 1999 from the Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar (India). He is a Chartered Engineer by the Institution of Engineers (India). Currently, he is Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of theNational Institute of Technical Teachers Training & Research Sector-26, Chandigarh-160019 (Republic of India). He has more than 18 years of teaching and research experience in manufacturing and production engineering with special emphasis in additive manufacturing. He also has interest in rapid casting and nontraditional machining and maintenance engineering. He has guided large numbers of PhD and masters students as well as coordinated and participated in 18 research projects. He has received several scientific and research awards. He is the editor in chief of 02 international journals, guest editor of 04 journals, books editor, and scientific advisor for 02 international journals. Presently, he is an editorial board member of 05 international journals and acts as reviewer for more than 10 prestigious Web of Science journals. In addition, he has also published more than 20 books as author, 70 book chapters, and 405 articles in journals and conferences (h-index 35+/i-10 index-115/ 4972+ citations).

2D-3D image processing

3D Printing- A miracle in medical Science (Assisted to cure 23 years old person from a deadly disease)

In a perfect example of cutting edge technology helping surgical skills – a 3D print of a rare and potentially fatal malformation helped in the conduct of a safe and a perfect surgery. Mr. Gurinder Singh (name changed) a 23 year old college studentwas noted to have a bluish discoloration of his body since childhood along with shortness of breath. It was thought that he had a heart problem and no specific treatment was done. When his colour started getting worse he came to Dr. Harinder Singh Bedi – Chairman Cardiac Sciences at Ludhiana Mediways Hospital in Ludhiana. His heart scans were normal- so Dr. Bedi suspected a lung problem and got a CT scan done. There was a large connection between the right sided pulmonary artery and vein which was bypassing the lung. So blue blood was entering the body without picking up oxygen. This is called a large pulmonary arterio-venous malformation (AVM) and is a rare disease. Dr. Bedi realized that the AVM could suddenly burst leading to a life threatening bleeding. On the CT the malformation looked extremely complex with the arteries and veins hopelessly intermixed. The treatment was an early intervention. However it was expected to cause major problems during the procedure as the pathology was intricate. So Dr. Bedi decided to take the help of a new technology called 3D printing . This is being done in the Dr. S.B.Singh Manufacturing Research Lab (Production Engineering Department) of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College (GNDEC) Ludhiana under Prof.Rupinder Singh. Using the CT scan images as a base Prof Rupinder Singh along with his team (Narinder Singh, Ranvijay Kumar, Nishant Ranjan and Puranjit Singh) used special equipment (3D printing hardware/software) to create a life sized 3D print of the malformation. The technique is called Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM). For this prototype, Stratasys – 3D printer U-Print SE Plus (USA), having accuracy of 0.025mm has been used. The filament for 3D printing was of 1.75 mm diameter, made up of acraylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) material. This specimen could be rotated all around and visualized from all angles. After a careful study of this specimen Dr. Bedi went ahead with the minimally invasive surgery . This would normally have taken over 3 hours and there was a risk that even a 1 mm mistake could trigger a torrential bleed .With the knowledge provided by the 3D – Dr. Bedi was able to remove the whole AVM in just 23 minutes with hardly any blood loss. Mr. Gurinder Singh recovered well . His bluish colour has been replaced with a healthy normal pink and his breathing is normal.

Prof. Rupinder Singh who is a senior Faculty at the GNDEC said that this technology is available only in a very few centers in India. Dr. Bedi said that he could foresee the immense contribution of this modality in minimally invasive surgery and precise procedures all of which lead to enhanced patient safety. On an exhaustive internet search there has been no mention of the use of 3D printing in such a potentially dangerouslung pathology. The team has sent this report to an International Journal so that other doctors can be made aware of this development. The case study will also be available on Stratasys USA website for further reference.